


Beauty

by TheHomestuckWhovian



Series: Accidental AU [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-16 18:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4636257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHomestuckWhovian/pseuds/TheHomestuckWhovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stories of Rose Quartz.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Diamond Evolves

Pink Diamond was tired.

Maybe it was one too many rebellions. Maybe it was the look in the gems she fought as she stepped on their gems, crushing them into dust. Maybe it was watching the general she appointed laugh joyfully at the execution of the remaining rebels, the Homeworld Diamonds finally unopposed.

She didn't want to kill anymore.

She took a long break after the last rebellion. It wasn't a popular decision. Only two Diamonds meant they could get split on decisions. Three meant the decision could be chosen by the majority. But she needed it. She needed the chance to think, to consider her decisions, to ponder if she was really correct about what she was doing.

She started writing down questions for herself.

     1. Was killing the right thing to do?  
     2. Could she have solved it in a different way?  
     3. Was fear really the way she wanted to be respected?

The list was longer, but these three questions remained very clear in her mind, as she thought about her choices.

Then she began to write.

     1. Was killing the right thing to do?

The answer was no. The rebellion was not violent. It was merely a protest. Killing those gems was not necessary. They were not the aggressors. The Diamonds were.

     2. Could she have solved it in a different way?

Yes, she could have. She could have listened, and understood what they were trying to say. Saying anything against the Diamonds was illegal, but she wasn't perfect and she should have listened to their complaints, and become better as a result. Instead, she had killed them without a second thought.

     3. Was fear really the way she wanted to be respected?

This one she thought long and hard about, going over every single detail of her answer before coming to the conclusion that she didn't want to be feared. She didn't want to be the aggressor anymore. She wanted to understand why they did things, not crush them merely to scare others from ever questioning her again. They should question her. She needed to become better. She didn't want to kill anymore.

She wanted to be the gem people didn't have to fear.

She spent much time working on her change. Her formerly sharp, straight, and prim hair became a mane of wild ringlets. Her official outfit became a white flowing dress. She no longer wore shoes. As she became kinder, more relaxed, and more open, so did her appearance. She shapeshifted with her perception of the world, so when she lost her cold outlook, she became warmer. When she came back, she was incredibly different.

Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond were surprised by how different she was. The first day she arrived back, she cracked a joke, trying to lighten the mood. As time went on, when debates led to two separate decisions, instead of choosing a side, she began creating compromises. Those actually increased her favor with the other Diamonds. The general she had appointed started despising her change, but she no longer cared that they wanted her to be the way she used to be. She wanted to stop spreading fear.

When a Ruby was almost crushed after a fight with one of the guards, she stopped the act and made a valuable friend who taught her more about strength. It was through learning this that she learned that there were different kinds of strength. Ruby became a valuable sparring partner, and, later, a well respected general. The two other Diamonds had disapproved, but Ruby eventually proved herself, and Pink Diamond was very proud of her friend.

Over a thousand years later, the Pearl program started. Pink Diamond watched as the lanky gems designed for labor walked through the headquarters, ordered around like slaves.

One Pearl was different. The leader has seen her be labeled defective after she had been told to clean a chamber and had responded with, "Why?" And Pink Diamond spent months trying to answer that question to herself.

She wasn't hard to recognize later. Most Pearls took being in the center of attention if they made a mistake gracefully. This Pearl would blush and stammer.

This Pearl was the first to question her in the thousands of years after the rebellions that had led Pink Diamond to question herself.

"Why am I less than you?"

That question was claimed to be accidental by the Pearl when she was cleaning the leader's chambers. She had quickly blushed and stammered an apology.

"Don't," Pink Diamond had said. "You are right to wonder why. And I don't have an answer for you. Thank you." She had encouraged the gem to come to her if she ever had any other questions.

The Pearl had had a lot. "How can people give speeches?" "How many planets are currently under gem rule?" "What are the names of the shapes in the sky?" "What is fusion?" Pink Diamond gladly answered the questions that she could and speculated with the Pearl on the ones she couldn't.

When the first question was brought up again, she said, "I don't think you are. I just think that they need to see you for who you are."

When Earth was discovered, Pink Diamond went to investigate this strange planet, and fell in love. The sky was a brilliant blue color, and watered flowed on the planet abundantly. Green became her favorite color, the color of the vines that twisted around trees and the moss that clung to the stones. And she fell in love with humans.

Never, on any of the planets she had seen, had she met such complex and amazing creatures. She learned to speak to them, learned how they survived and lived. The world was beautiful, but also dangerous, but the humans changed and adapted. They used tools and developed ways. Their bodies weren't like gems'; they were delicate and irreplaceable, and they require energy from the plants and animals, which they consumed. They danced and enjoyed it in a way that gems didn't. For gems, dancing was for fusion and fusion was cheap and silly. For humans, dancing was a form of expression, like their words and their art.

She then saw what the Kindergarten was doing.

She watched the green grass around the canyon turn yellow and die, blowing away with the wind. She saw animals forced to leave to survive, humans having to leave to continue their constant struggle to survive elsewhere.

Pink Diamond was no longer the gem she had started out as when she chose to rebel, just as the gems she had crushed hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Ruby was unsure, but she was a gem with a strong sense of justice, and the senseless killing of life convinced her, though the former gem leader could tell she was still being held back by something. Pearl had no objections, volunteering before Pink Diamond could explain the consequences.

When the first members of her small army gathered, she chose a new name for herself.

A Quartz was an incredibly common, and not very intimidating gem, but she found it easier to relate to the others with a name that didn't automatically scream authority like Pink Diamond. Roses were her favorite flowers on this amazing planet.

As she left behind the Homeworld forever, with Pearl by her side and Ruby still on Homeworld, ready to support her, Pink Diamond became a memory and Rose Quartz became the reality.

Rose had followed the path of the humans she loved so much before she had even known about them. She had evolved and grown, and was now willing to take the stand she was willing to crush into dust so long ago.


	2. Rose Finds A Gem

The army was celebrating the victory of the Battle of the Lunar Sea Spire, but Rose wasn't celebrating.

She was currently sitting, cross-legged, in a chamber, holding an ornate object in her hands.

She heard a knock at the door, and looked up to see Pearl looking hesitantly in.

Rose grinned, saying, "You're back. I was worried."

This was the shortest time Pearl had ever been gone. She usually spent an painful amount of time, focusing on how she would reform, and changes she needed to make. Because she was poofed so often, her appearance would change often. Rose had watched her skin go from blue to pink to finally an slightly yellowish white that reminded the rebellion leader of eggshells. Her formerly bright tangarine-colored hair had continued to become lighter and lighter. It was even lighter now. She had long since ditched the poofy orange skirt, and donned a gossamer cape with a white, pearl shaped clasp. Rose was glad the changes were never too extreme. Pearl slowly transitioned, making sure she was always recognizable from her last form, but Rose knew she wouldn't be able to recognize the Pearl from the beginning of the war if she were to suddenly change back.

Rose had watched many Pearls begin to find their individuality, first with their weapons, and soon with their own bodies, but none had changed so far from how Pearls originally looked than her Pearl.

Her second in command fidgeted, playing with her cape, and stated, "Garnet informed me that you needed to see me. Is something wrong?"

Rose looked at Pearl carefully before passing her the object carefully, asking, "Could you please observe this carefully, and make some observations?"

"O-Of course!" Pearl nodded, smiling as she stared at the front. "Ornate, very well made. Obviously Gem-created, as human have not yet been able to work with metal in this way. The glass is pristine. It clearly was well taken care of, probably belonging to a very important gem, maybe a general." She turned it over, about to continue talking, before gasping in surprise.

The leader looked around her chamber as she began, "I was looking, seeing what items I could find in the chambers, when I found this." She gestured to the mirror. "I consulted Garnet, but she stated that it would not be safe to try and help the gem, that the chance that she isn't corrupted is very slim." Rose sighed sadly. "The mirror can record events, and bring them back to show the person holding it. I was unable to find out what gem she was, as she was obviously a very rare gem."

"What should we do?" Pearl asked.

"This is to stay between the three of us," Rose said. "I'm still attempting to find a way to heal corrupted gems, so we will keep this mirror safe to keep her from coming out and hurting our friends, and we will do our best to try and save her."

Pearl nodded, saying, "Yes, that is a good idea. Should we keep her in your armory?"

"No. We will keep her in the temple."

* * *

They said the mirror's only purpose was to tell about history. Mostly though, Rose could hear the obstinate mirror either mock, or just ignore any gem who tried to use it, unless it was her. Rose quickly learned that the mirror was sentient, and had a sense of humor. She kept it nearby, and would often talk to the gem inside it, assure her that one day, she would be able to save her. The mirror also allowed her to record information she found and access it again later, though often in a humorous way that made Rose laugh. Rose continued to promise her that she would be saved one day, to the point that the mirror even found hope.

So, thousands of years later, it came as no surprise to the remaining gems, with Amethyst being the only one they told for thousands of years about the its true nature, that the mirror stopped working the moment Rose was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is very clear that Lapis wouldn't show Pearl anything, but that made me wonder why Pearl even knew to ask it anything, so I thought maybe Rose was the only one who Lapis would respond to originally, and that's why Pearl knew how the mirror worked. It would totally work with how nice Rose is, and it is kinda inspired by how Steven and Centipeetle interacted, minus the monsterous bit.


End file.
